$1 million winner has Walpole scratching

Robert Pellowe woke up Tuesday morning facing a dilemma most people only dream about - what to do with a million bucks.

Jeb Bobseine

Robert Pellowe woke up Tuesday morning facing a dilemma most people only dream about - what to do with a million bucks.

The Walpole man won $1 million on Monday after his Billion Dollar Blockbuster ticket, purchased at Mimi's Variety store at 1010 Main Street, turned up lucky. Really lucky.

The payout will come in installments of $50,000 each year (not including taxes), for 20 years, according to Massachusetts State Lottery Communications Director Dan Rosenfeld.

Rosenfeld referred to Pellowe as the ``retired grandfather from Walpole'' and though he had only met him briefly, said he was ``very, very, very nice.''

``Super nice,'' he elaborated.

Pellowe did not return several calls from the Transcript.

Nick Patel, the manager of Mimi's, sold Pellowe the ticket. He said he remembers selling him the ticket, but does not know exactly when it occurred.

``It was a very good ticket,'' he said.

Mimi's will receive $10,000 from the Massachusetts State Lottery just for selling the ticket, Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld promised that commission would not come out of Pellowe's winnings. Rather, it will be taken from the net proceeds the lottery takes in during the year, he said.

Patel said the check hadn't arrived yet, but that he thought it was ``coming soon.''

However, in the time since Pellowe was announced as a winner, Patel said that Mimi's had already experienced a surge in business. Specifically, the lottery business.

Patel said that he had already sold 20 percent more than the previous day.

It was noon.

Two regulars at Mimi's sat at a table with their lottery tickets before them, one minute scratching away at the stubs and the next looking up at the screen.

``Some stores are lucky,'' one of them - a woman named Donna whose mother resides in Walpole - said. She said that she comes in to Mimi's ``a couple times a week'' to play the lottery, though she wouldn't call herself a ``regular.''

She heard about Pellowe's win when she visited the Mass. Lottery Web site to check the day's numbers.

Dick Puorro, who lives in Walpole and who goes to Mimi's ``just about every day,'' said that he heard about Pellowe's million dollar win on television. His wife was watching and asked him, ``Don't you go to Mimi's?''

He said he told his wife, ``It could have been me.''

He added that he saw Pellowe on occasion at Mimi's, though he did not know him. They have exchanged friendly greetings, and that's about it.

Donna and Puorro each had answers to the question, ``What would you do with a million dollars?''

``I would put it towards my kid's college,'' she said. ``I'd do the right thing - take care of my family.''

She added that she would likely give some to charity.

Puorro nodded his head, but suggested that he might take the money and ``go to Vegas again.''

Donna suggested Hawaii, and he said, ``Maybe I'd go to Hawaii.''

At the counter, Puorro confessed that he wasn't lucky today, and that he'd lost three times in a row.

Any lottery winner of greater than $50,000 must go to the Lottery headquarters in Braintree, according to Rosenfeld.

Pellowe did this on Monday, where he went through a debriefing.

Rosenfeld described the debriefing as including advice on drawing up a will, and handling the money intelligently. They also suggested hiring a lawyer and a financial planner, he added.

Jeb Bobseine can be reached at jeb@walpoletimes.com or 508-668-0243, ext.
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